Africa has always been a guideline in my life and in my photographic work. I live and work in Switzerland, but I was born in Cameron and grew up in Lesotho until the age of 7. My parents lived and worked in Africa many years, they are now living in Togo, in a small village called Ayomé.

These pictures shown are part of an ongoing project that I started a few weeks ago in Togo, it’s in the continuity of my previous works, based on the study of the relationship between the architecture, the landscape, the human and their identities.

The unique African architecture, the population and this very complex link with the politics and their relation to history has always attracted me, first in Lesotho (study Maloting, 2004), later in Niger (study Zagaya, 2006) and now in Togo (Ayomé, 2011). I take all my pictures with a 4 x 5″ analog camera.

This work is though very personal, about the complex emotions that I was in since my childhood. First the European culture in Africa and then the African culture in Europe. – JOËL TETTAMANTI for Domus #949